Friday Chuckle

Taking a suggestion from a friend, I thought I would try a little something that might “lend some consistency” to my blog. I am hereby declaring Friday’s as “Friday Chuckle”! I might post a joke, a funny image or a maybe even a personal funny story. I’ll also be open for suggestions, so email me!

This was emailed to me from a co-worker and it plays right into my kind of humor. Enjoy and have a great holiday weekend!!

Hello in there...we're ready for you

Well what we were hoping would be our last visit to the doctor’s office, has turned into the next to last office visit. Apparently the baby is nice and cozy so s/he is being a little stubborn about letting us welcome him/her into the world.

“How much longer is this going to go on?”, I jokingly asked the doctor. Well whether the baby likes it or not, it looks like we’ll be welcoming her/him into the world by the end of next week because apparently the doctor has a vacation planned. OK, just kidding! Unlike when V was born (who decided to show up three week late) they really don’t like letting the pregnancy go longer than a week passed the EDD. For my sake (and the sake of everyone else), I’m hoping that the baby has a change of plans sooner than then.

Rutt's Hut (Clifton, NJ)

This place has been featured on numerous programs on The Travel Channel, The Food Network and is also features in the book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. Now you’re probably saying to yourself why is this my topic of discussion today. Well that’s because two years ago that’s where I was, having deep fried hot dogs with my groomsmen, my dad, my brother in law and my father in law hours before I got married later in the day. Some guys play golf and some guys just hang around watching tv but in my wife’s family this has been a tradition, so I followed suit. Now ideally eating anything deep fried at 11:00 in the morning before you have to stand in front of a room church full of family and friends is probably not a good idea, but despite what you might think I couldn’t have imagined my day starting any other way.


As for the rest of the day, it was the best damn wedding party of the year! If you don’t believe me, just check out the highlights video. We were surrounded by family and friends who were partying on the dance floor with us the entire night (well we did sit and eat for a couple of minutes). But the best thing about that day, wasn’t the hot dogs, it wasn’t singing at the top of our lungs to “Living on a Prayer”, it wasn’t even that my best man ran around the dance floor singing “Sweet Caroline” to his filet mignon. It was that I got married my best friend.  Happy 2nd Anniversary V!

Eggshells...

With less than a week before the baby’s “birthday”, that’s what I have been walking on. Any subtle twinge or any noise louder than a pin dropping or any moment that I’m not by her side has me on edge and concerned for V. And the worst part of it all is that once the baby finally gets here it’s not going to stop, it’s just going to be twice as much.

Anywhere but here...

It’s a rainy Friday afternoon at work and all I can do is think of places that I would rather be, so I decided to compile a list of places that I want to visit some time during my life. So in no particular order here is my list:

1. Athens, Greece (The Acropolis)
2. Cairo, Egypt (The Great Pyramids of Giza)
3. Istanbul, Turkey (Hagia Sophia)
4. London, England
5. Dublin, Ireland
6. Italy (although I’ve been there before, V hasn’t)
1. Florence
2. Venice
3. Rome
4. Pisa
5. Nusco (where my family is from)
7. California (plan a Pacific Coast road trip)
1. San Francisco / Redwood Forest
2. Los Angeles
3. San Diego
8. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
9. Keystone, South Dakota (Mount Rushmore)
10. Hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and go rafting on the Colorado River
11. Take a cruise (I don’t have a specific location in mind – anywhere will do)
12. See a game and take a tour of every MLB park/stadium (yes, even Fenway)

I’m sure I’ll add to this list as time goes on, but I think that’s a good start.

A little over anxious

I guess I should take a step back and do an “about me” for anyone just stumbling across my page.

I met my wife (V) in November 2002 and we started “dating” shortly after that. V and I met when we were both working at a local chain restaurant; however we never actually worked there at the same time as each other. I worked there to pick up some extra income (the salary of an architect isn’t as glorious as it sounds – lol) and had quit right before V started but I would still go in to grab a drink and see my friends who were still there. It started off slow with us just having random conversations here and there and then I worked up the cajones to ask her out. On our first date (which is a story in itself that maybe I’ll post about at another time) we found out we both loved sports, especially baseball and the Yankees. Things were going well and boy was I happy for that because I mean who wouldn’t want things to go well with a good looking girl that not only loved sports, but knew more than the team colors and who the “cute players” were! We got engaged in March 2006 and were married in September 2007.

It was in December 2008 that V found out she was pregnant with our first baby together. I do have a daughter (J) from a previous relationship.  J has pretty much grown up with V being around and I couldn’t ask for both of them to have a better relationship.  J lives with her mom but we see her every other weekend and she can’t wait to be a big sister!

As I mentioned I received my Masters degree in Architecture and have been working in a few different offices since I graduated.  The elusive license continues to elude me as I still have an exam to pass…the same exam that has been giving me trouble for almost two years now. One day hopefully the stars will align for me.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Baby "D" at 27 weeks

Final Stretch

Yes, we’re about to enter the final month of the regular baseball season (let's go Yankees!), but that's not what I am referring to. There are only 10 days left until our baby’s due date. I can’t believe how fast the past nine months have gone by. It seems like just yesterday when V (my wife) was showing me the five (yes five!!) positive pregnancy tests. Ever since we found out we’ve spent every waking moment planning in some way shape or form for the baby’s arrival and now s/he is almost here (have I mentioned that already?!) As you can guess we did not find out the sex of the baby, which drove most of my family nuts. We’ve had a boys name picked out for some time now and we’re still sitting on the fence with a few girls names…and no, we’re not sharing that either.

What I will share are pictures of the nursery, which we decided to do in a Winnie the Pooh theme. The room used to be our daughter’s room (V’s stepdaughter) when we used to come back to NJ / our computer room. I cleared it all out, threw down some drop clothes, stripped the old trim and taped and spackled where it needed it. After a few different test swatches we decided on Benjamin Moore Morning Sunshine as the main color of the room. On the main wall of the room, I planned to paint a Winnie the Pooh mural. I found a few different images online and put together the design. I drew everything freehand in pencil and then began painting the background colors of the grass, sky and the tree. All in all it took me about three months to do everything in the nursery, usually working about 2 hours in the morning before work.

The week after I finished the mural (and I cleaned the room top to bottom) my father in law cleaned and polished the hardwood floors and I was able to put together the crib. It was a lot easier than I was expecting and it went together in about 2 hours. Both of the dressers came assembled so it was just a matter of taking it out of the box. Mostly all the clothes, diapers, and the rest of the essentials are put away (courtesy of V) and the only thing left we have to do is make sure the car seats are properly secured in each of our cars.

UPDATE:  V took her car this morning to a local police department to have them show her the proper way to install the car seat.  Guess that just leaves me to take my car...which I need to seriously clean first.